The news networks failed to report on the resignation of top UN climate official Rajendra K. Pachauri after he faced yet another scandal. Pachauri resigned after being accused of sexual harassment.
As the chairman of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) beginning in 2002, Pachauri was a visible and controversial proponent of climate alarmism. The IPCC has been a favorite source [1] for the networks catastrophic climate change claims.
Pachauri resigned Feb. 24, after a 29-year-old woman working at his Delhi office said she received “unwanted emails as well as text and phone messages” from Pachauri, BBC News reported [2].
Although they repeatedly hyped the IPCC’s dire warnings [1], the three broadcast networks ignored the allegations against Pachauri and his resignation on their evening news shows on Feb. 24, and their morning news shows on Feb. 25.
In his resignation letter [3], Pachauri avoided specific mention of the sexual harassment accusation, instead saying that the IPCC needed the “full attention by the Chair in the immediate future, which under the current circumstances I may be unable to provide.” He Highlighted IPCC’s joint Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore calling it a “rare moment of glory.” Pachauri also said he experienced “unprecedented and deep satisfaction” while leading the IPCC.
“For me the protection of Planet Earth, the survival of all species and sustainability of our ecosystems is more than a mission. It is my religion and my dharma,” Pachauri admitted.
Although Pachauri admitted there had been difficulties during his time at the IPCC, he did not specifically mention his involvement in any scandal.
One incident [4] Pachauri had been criticized for was the inclusion of a prediction that Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035. This claim was published in the IPCC’s 4th assessment report on climate change, which was used to sell global warming alarmism and garner political will to restrict carbon emissions. Dr. Syed Hasnain, the scientist behind the assertion, later admitted “it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders.” That claim was actually from the environmental activist group World Wildlife Fund (WWF), not from a peer-reviewed scientific source.
While the IPCC was forced to admit this error in January 2010, Pachauri attempted to shift the blame to others even though Hasnain had been working for Pachauri for two years at that point. Hasnain was a senior employee at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), where Pachauri was director-general, according to The Telegraph (UK).
In March 2010, another claim [4] about global warming’s impact on Amazon rainforests from an IPCC report was traced to another WWF study and called “bunk” and “baseless” by The Register (UK), an online tech publication.
Scientists and others, including some liberals, called for Pachauri’s resignation from the IPCC over those issues. Liberal George Monbiot of The Guardian and John Sauven, head of Greenpeace UK, both called for Pachauri to relinquish his position.
Sauven told The London Times: “Mistakes will always be made but it’s how you handle those mistakes which affects the credibility of the institution. Pachauri should have put his hand up and said ‘we made a mistake’. It’s in these situations that your character and judgment is tested. Do you make the right judgment call? He clearly didn’t.”
The Greenpeace UK leader also expressed skepticism that the IPCC can regain credibility without Pachauri’s resignation. Yet, Pachauri remained in his position for another five years.